Tunis judge questions raped woman over indecency claims

A YOUNG woman allegedly raped by two policemen has been questioned by a magistrate in Tunis who will decide whether she is to be charged with indecency, in a case that has sparked outrage.

The woman arrived at the court wearing sunglasses and a black scarf, alongside her fiance, who faces the same accusation and who also covered his head to conceal his identity.

"The whole world supports me. I ask you for your support too," the tearful woman told AFP, just before entering the office of investigating magistrate Mohamed Ben Meftah with her lawyers.

Her chief lawyer, Bochra Belhaj Hmida, said during a recess in the hearing that she was "optimistic."

"I am optimistic that she will be cleared and the case dismissed," she told AFP.

The 27-year-old woman, who was allegedly raped on September 3, and her fiance are under investigation for "indecency"; a crime that carries a possible jail sentence of up to six months.

The alleged rapists say they took the couple by surprise in an "immoral position" just before the rape purportedly took place.

At the end of Tuesday's hearing, the judge will decide whether or not to charge the couple, a judicial source told AFP.

"After the questioning and after having listened to the lawyers, the judge should dismiss the case or transfer it to the competent court," the source explained, adding that the decision would not necessarily be immediate.

The police took the couple by surprise as they were having sex in their car, according to the same source.

Two of them then took the woman to the police car, where they raped her, while a third restrained and tried to extort money from her fiance, the source added.

The president of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, Ahlem Belhadj, a lawyer who is also representing the young woman, said she was in a "very fragile" psychological state, but remained determined to fight.

"This is a woman, a victim with a cause," she said.

"It is a case that shames Tunisia. Within our culture, even in the legal system, there is a tendency to hold the victims responsible for their rape," she added.

The young couple came face to face with the police accused at a court hearing last week.

The three policemen, who were arrested shortly afterwards and are awaiting trial, face heavy sentences if found guilty, with rape at least in theory risking the death penalty in Tunisia.

In practice, no one has been executed for more than 20 years.

Several hundred demonstrators gathered outside the court early on Tuesday waving banners and placards and shouting slogans in support of the woman.

The case has sparked a storm of protest in Tunisia, with NGOs, media and opposition figures already charging that the proceedings have transformed the victim into the accused and reflect the Islamist-led government's policy towards women.

The justice ministry has defended itself, insisting that a rape victim should not benefit from immunity if she "has committed acts prohibited by law."

Since the Islamists' rise to power after last year's revolution, feminist groups have accused police of regularly harassing women, by challenging them over their clothing or if they go out at night unaccompanied by family members.

The principle of gender equality, enshrined in the Personal Status Code that was promulgated in 1956 under Tunisia's first president, Habib Bourguiba, made the north African nation a beacon of modernity in the Arab world.

Ennahda, the Islamist party that heads the ruling coalition, was heavily criticised for proposing an article in the new constitution, since dropped, that referred to the "complementarity" of men to women, rather than their equality.

Many saw the proposed article as a ploy by the Islamists to roll back women's rights.